Thank You
by aversive5599
Summary: When Sasuke realises what thank you really meant.


**Prompt:Sasusaku Week, favourite parallels.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Mashashi Kishimoto**

Thank you was a phrase that didn't come easily to last surviving Uchiha.

Perhaps it was because he's had so little to be thankful over the years. The world had been particularly cruel to him and being grateful for anything or anyone was a notion that's almost alien to him.

Secretly he'd wished for a life where he was happy, where his parents were alive and his every waking moment wasn't spent on plotting the death of his older brother. Perhaps then he'd have something to be thankful for.

And yet standing with his back turned to a girl who is ready to offer him all she has just for a shot at making him happy he's not thankful at all. In fact he's scared.

Her love isn't something he asked for much less deserved and hearing her cry behind him begging him not to leave wavers a resolve he's spent years building. He's made sure that there are no cracks in the wall he's constructed around him and yet…

Sakura had crashed into it managing to create fissures in the concrete with nothing but her bright smiles and unbelievably naive outlook on life. She'd reached through the barriers trying to get whatever he so desperately hid behind those walls.

But she hadn't realised that he doesn't have much for her to take, not anymore.

The only thing he can give is gratitude, because love….  
He's given it before, he's given it to his parents, he's given it to his brother…. and it had torn him apart.

He won't, no he _can't_ hand that sort of power over to someone else, not this time around. But more than that, he doesn't have any of it left to give. He's empty now and all he has is a thank you left.

It's the only piece of compassion he has left that hasn't been tainted by his hate, his jealousy and Orochimaru's promise of power.

The thank you is Sakura's heart in a way, the only part of him that cares even if it's only for her and even if it's just a fragment of what could have been.

Without facing her, standing behind her, his eyes fixed on the pale pink strands that make up her hair he gives her heart back to her along with the last bit of light he had left.

 _Thank you for letting me have it_ he says silently long after she's collapsed and he's caught her in his arms.

 _Thank you for caring so deeply even if I didn't deserve it,_ he tells her quietly as he lays her on the bench.

 _Thank you for showing me a future where I could have been happy_ he completes as he walks out of the Konoha gates leaving everything, Sakura behind.

 _Thank you._

Years stretch in between them like miles of a road that seemingly lead to nowhere and even though his path intertwined with hers, he's a different person now. With his last piece of compassion given away he has nothing left to lose. He doesn't care anymore.

In another world if he'd kept that thank you, if he'd not given it away perhaps he'd have reacted differently to the story of Itachi's sacrifice, perhaps even its small glimmer of light would have been enough to keep the darkness from completely engulfing him.

But Sakura has it and through the years she's simply kept it with her, safeguarding it, fighting to keep it safe from everyone including Sasuke himself. She tries to give it back to him along with the future she'd promised but Sasuke rips it apart time and again with the spark of his chidori and the swish of his katana.

Before his fight with Naruto she once again offers it back to him in the form of her love, repaying his small drop of light with an ocean of her own. His back is turned to her again, he can never seem to face her in these moments for the fear of going blind, for the fear of losing sight of what's important, for the fear of losing sight of his revenge.

She offers him a future again, a path to be happy and this time he's not scared anymore.

He's terrified.

He runs leaving her behind this time not bothering to catch her when she falls for he knows that if he stays any longer he will be overwhelmed by her sheer power. For Sakura has indeed grown stronger over the years not just in her ability to decimate any foe she encounters but also as a person and her effect on the people around her, on him, is unquestionable.

Even though he runs, for the first time in his life he's not fast enough and somewhere deep inside he knows that a tiny spark of light is back and when Naruto beats the hell out of him, the blonde manages to make a hole in the wall of darkness by aiming precisely on the small crack. Light slowly but surely starts streaming through.

When the first part of his wall crumbles the first thing he receives is a handful of apologies. He makes sure to give Sakura the first one.

 _I'm sorry._

It's perhaps only then when she asks for more and he's willingly ready to give all the sorry's he has just received for a shred of her forgiveness that he doesn't deserve, he realises that what he's felt towards Sakura hadn't been gratitude at all.

That the last piece of him that he'd given her in a disguise of a thank you wasn't him returning her heart but perhaps it was him giving her his to keep safe until he could come back and take her up on the future she'd promised.

He'd selfishly kept hers though shredding it bit by bit with his darkness as he lost his way. He'd torn her heart apart while Sakura had kept his protected and safe never giving it up even when he completely destroyed hers.

 _I'm sorry for everything._

Months in a dark cell all alone, he realised things that he didn't see before and by the time he's let out most of his wall has crumbled and even though the light isn't nearly as powerful and bright as his teammates it's still there.

Once again when he decides to leave, she offers him a future where she will give it her all to make him happy. She doesn't ask for her heart even if she offers his back with a shy look and a request to accompany him.

He denies it though and in return gives her a light tap on the forehead along with a promise. Even though it pales in comparison to love she's given him throughout the years it's the only form of love he knows. It's the only form of love he'll ever have to give and it will _only_ ever belong to Sakura.

And this time when he says thank you, he doesn't say it to her back but he says it facing her, without running away, without saying it long after she's collapsed. Because this time when he says it he's not afraid to let her know what the thank you really means.

 _Thank you for letting me keep it.  
Thank you for caring so deeply even though I never deserved it. _

He knew she'd understood as her green eyes widened when she realised what he'd given to her all those years back because he was sure that looking at himself in the emerald mirror of her eyes what reflected back was the real deal- _love._

 _Thank you for giving me a chance to love you._


End file.
